This shrimp and zucchini risotto with ginger is a delicious twist on a traditional Italian dish, bringing together the delicate flavors of seafood, fresh zucchini, and the warm spice of ginger. Not only is this creamy risotto comforting and flavorful, but it’s also incredibly versatile, allowing you to create multiple variations from one base recipe.
Shrimp and zucchini risotto is a universal Italian dish—you could say it’s four recipes in one! From just this single recipe, you can create four different dishes.
For example, you can simplify the risotto and prepare either:
- Shrimp risotto – In this case, the broth can be made using just onion, bay leaf, and shrimp shells.
- Zucchini risotto – Here, an extra piece of zucchini should be grated, sautéed separately in butter, seasoned with nutmeg, blended with vegetable broth until creamy, and then added to the risotto.
The shrimp, which I use as a garnish and cook separately for this risotto, can also be served as an independent dish. The preparation is simple:
Sauté the shrimp in butter with grated garlic and ginger until golden brown. Season with salt at the end and generously sprinkle with red pepper and paprika.
Alternatively, ginger can be replaced with lemon zest… By the way, if you love creamy risotto, you can boil the zucchini in the broth (see photo 1 in the step-by-step recipe), then blend the zucchini and add it to the rice at the end of cooking. Instead of using it sliced, as shown in my example.

Shrimp and Zucchini Risotto with Ginger
Ingredients
- 250 gr Arborio rice
- 200 gr shrimp
- 100 gr zucchini
- 50 gr onion
- salt
- butter
- garlic
- ginger
For the Broth:
- celery
- onion
- carrot
- water
- Shrimp shells – the rest of shrimp
Instructions
- We start by preparing the vegetable broth. Place a piece of onion, carrot, a sprig of celery, shrimp shells (since the shrimp used in the risotto should be peeled), and a bay leaf into a saucepan. Pour in 1.5 liters of water and bring to a boil (Photo 1). Skim off any foam from the shrimp shells and let the broth simmer on low heat throughout the entire risotto cooking process.In a pan or a pot with a thick bottom, melt a tablespoon of butter, then add the same amount of olive oil. Add finely chopped onion and sauté for 5 minutes (Photo 2). The onion should not brown or fry! It should remain white and turn slightly translucent—at this point, add the chopped zucchini (Photo 3).
- Sauté the vegetables for 2-3 minutes, then add washed Arborio rice (Photo 4). Toast the rice for a minute, then pour in a couple of ladles of vegetable broth (Photo 5). Cook the rice for 10 minutes, gradually adding more broth as needed.
- Peel all the shrimp and finely chop half of them. Sauté the chopped shrimp in olive oil or butter with ginger for 3-4 minutes in a separate pan (Photo 6).After the first 10 minutes of cooking the rice, add the sautéed shrimp to the risotto (Photo 7) and stir. Continue cooking for another 8 minutes, gradually adding broth as needed (Photo 8). Salt the risotto toward the end of cooking. Once the heat is turned off, mix in finely grated Parmesan (Photo 9).
- For garnish, cook the remaining whole shrimp separately in a pan with butter, freshly grated ginger, and garlic. Lightly salt them. They cook quickly—5 minutes is enough. Plan the timing so that you start frying them 15 minutes after the rice starts cooking.Once the risotto is done, let it rest for a couple of minutes in the pan before serving. Plate the risotto and top it with the garlic-ginger shrimp.In total, 18-20 minutes of cooking time is enough for the rice.